The elevator is indeed connected to a long snake (nyrod), with the servo being mounted in the cabin area. It would be awkward to mount it in the tail - the fin is too thin to hide a servo, and if it was in the rear fuselage, then the linkage would be fully exposed as it went up the side of the fin.

No, I haven't tried it woithout the dummy side cheeks, but I know of one modeller who has built the 48" version with a 'clean' nose. Although he's very happy with the results (and the flight performance), I think it looks a bit slab-sided. The cheeks do add a measure of rigidity to the nose as well!